It had been rather hectic lately with tons of works needed to be done.
Just little quickie before the first month of the year ends.
I've been busy with:
1) Add maths which is Fun.
2) Biology which is complicated.
3) Organizing a birthday outing.
4) Figuring out how to make over my blog.
5) Trying to find time to rest.
6) Catching up with aviation news.
7) Figuring out why my leg is in pain. FML
?) Plenty of things.
I hope this will not be the last post of the month.
Semi-quickie post.
First and foremost, a very Happy New Year to everyone.
Things to look forward in this blog for this new year.
1) A major 360 degree make over of my blog.
A whole new look will be introduced to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of my blog.
2) The last part of my trip to Beijing last Christmas.
Stay tuned!
3) Coverage for the 60th Miss World Pageant and the 59th Miss Universe Pageant.
Stefania will crown the new MU, while Kaiane will crown the new MW.
Will it be another surprise winner for MW and a 3 time win for Venezuela for MU?
4) More trip reports! (hopefully)
For the reading pleasure of all flyer talk-ers.
5) A post on my [soon to get] new toy. (Not so soon) :D Confused now?
Either one.
6) A decade with and without you all,
A special post dedicated to you all, my 10years buddy.
AND LOTS MORE!!
While I will be very busy trying to cope between school work and my blog to upgrade it from superb to awesome, you guys just have to. . . . .
Stay Tune!
And constantly leave some comments as an compliment for my hard work. XD
Happy New Year Once Again!
Food that I ate during my trip in Beijing. Not all, but some of it.
First stop: Brazilian BBQ Buffet.
The BBQ meat are served and the other dishes are self-service.
Some of the BBQ meat served.
Lots of types are prepared but only 5 types managed to reach my table.
Next stop!
The famous peking duck（北京烤鸭）. Served in this cute little duck-shaped plate.
Best eaten with the black sauce and even better if you wrap both inside a thin “popiah” skin.
Awesome but quite fattening.
Extra: Went to toilet when almost finish eating and received my PMR results via SMS when I came back from the washroom. LOL!
While others are sweating/nervous anticipating to receive their results, I was here enjoying the duck! Cool huh?
Took this pic after the peking duck lunch. :D Happy face there. XD
The next one was suggested by my tour guide as we cant get it back here in KL or SG.
Worth giving it a try.
McD’s Pork Burg-er（猪堡包）.
Something special here. Just a stone’s throw away from my hotel to try this but have to walk through the windy+cold –10 and lower degrees Celsius temperature in Beijing.
It tasted normal lo….Anyway its still worth trying.
On the way back to the hotel, stopped by this local noodles shop and take away-ed the famous Zha Jiang Mian（炸酱面） that China people eat at least once a week(according the my tour guide).
Take a pic first as I wait after ordering.
Looks familiar? It is sold at Esquire Kitchen Restaurants （大人餐厅）back in KL.
I prefer the one back here[the one sold in Esquire].
Another pic of one of my lunch there. Zha Jiang Mian lunch.
Next!
]
China’s famous dumpling.
Took this for lunch at the Dumpling palace or house, forgot the name.
Ten types of dumplings served during that lunch. All tasted almost the same though.
The process of making the dumplings.
And finally the stop that I love the most:
Tong Hua Men night market .（东华门美食街）
Tons of food are sold here. From noodles to–>
Bubble tea to–>
Smelly toufu to—>
Scorpions and even penises. You name it, they have it.
And guess what, they promote the penises by holding the stick of 4/5penises and point it at your penis and say penis and in the end you’ll just laugh instead of buying.
Haha!
Oh ya, my favourite beverage during the trip:
Hot choc! Taste superb during winter! Ignore the salad.
PART 1: KUL-PEK Sector
Date/Day: 23 December 2009/Wednesday
Flight Number: MH 370
Carrier: Malaysia Airlines
Aircraft: Airbus330-300
Aircraft Registration No: 9M-??? (Unknown)
Route: Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Beijing (PEK)
Departure Time: 00:30 hours (GMT +8)
Arrival Time: 06:30 hours Beijing time (GMT +8 ) [On time]
Journey: 6 hours
Class of Travel: Economy Class
Went to the airport via airport limo at 8pm.
Reached KLIA around 9pm.
The main attraction at the Departure hall of KLIA. It seems like the only thing that reminds you of Christmas here at KLIA.
Don't you think the person in charge of this is stupid? The tree blocked the words.
Checked-in my flight and then went straight to the Satellite terminal for a tour of the new main attrition: The Jungle boardwalk. Opened a few days prior my departure date.
MH 370 to Beijing.
My air ticket.
Whats with all the new gates(in red)? Even my flight’s departure gate was changed from C to H.
KLIA is quite busy at night as most long haul flight departs at night. The Aerotrain is quite packed during this period.
KLIA Jungle Boardwalk. A smart move.
Very cooling and a great place to walk around. The recorded bird sound is obvious however.
Thumbs up to MAHB for thinking of this after 11 years since KLIA was opened.
A mini waterfall inside this mini forest.
The new all round bottom view of the terminal with Emirates FAs in the background.
Went for supper at my favourite Noodles restaurant. 2nd visit here. They renovated their restaurant and it is now much bigger compared to my last visit here during April.
The beef ball noodle is awesome!
After strolling around the Satellite terminal, I went back to the Main terminal building where my plane will be parked.
H10 was the gate for the flight to PEK.
Boarding took a while and we’re on board. All set to roll down the runway and enjoy “MH” .
I love the seat pitch onboard this aircraft but I wonder why MAS didn't include PTVs is their A333 aircrafts. Only overhead ones are available. But their colourful seats made me forget about everything else and just enjoy my 6hours flight.
After everyone boarded the plane. We rolled down the runway for a ontime departure.
Headphones were given out after the seatbelt sign went off.
Blankets however are on the seat prior take off.
Peanuts were given after a while followed by choice of juice or plain water.
My packet was rather useless as I am allergic to peanuts. I wanted to ask for something else but then they served supper already. Peanuts suck.
Orange juice for me.
2 Sandwiches was served for supper.
Quite nice actually.
Ratings: 8/10 for the food. 10/10 for the service.
After supper, lights were switched off and movies were played. I managed to stay awake until breakfast was served at 4:30am. My earliest breakfast I ever had!
2 choices were given, Nasi Lemak or Salmon Omelette.
I opted for Nasi Lemak first.
Awesome! Better than Pak Nasser’s (AK’s) one.
This can proof it.
Ratings: 10/10 for the food, 10/10 for the service.
As usual, I’ll go for both choices if there is extra and I got lucky that morning, so I tried the omelette too.
Maybe I was already full, the omelette tasted horrible. Did not finish it. :D
Ratings: 4/10 for the food, 10/10 for the service.
After breakfast service and the clearing process, the captain started descending into BCIA. The plane landed on time at BCIA at 0630hrs in the morning. The airport was rather quiet the time.
Our flight was the only flight which arrived at that time. After the speedy custom clearance and a stop at the washroom, went on to collect the baggages.
MH370 from KUL
The rather empty terminal 2 of BCIA.
After putting on the winter clothings, I proceeded to my tour bus located outside the empty terminal parking bay.
BCIA T2 Control tower.
Its freaking cold outside. :D Awesome!
The one of the few buses at the parking bay at that moment was my “main transport” for the entire tour around Beijing.
My tour bus.
PART 2: My accommodation
Stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Minzuyuan throughout the trip.
It is located in the Olympic Village and its just a stone’s throw away from the Bird’s nest （鸟巢） and the water cube （水立方）.
As it was built for the Olympics last year with a mere 1 year plus old, the entire hotel is very new.
The main enterance of the hotel.
View of the hotel (inside).
Overall the hotel is very clean and equipped with modern facilities.
I love the pillow choice introduced by Holiday Inn Hotels. I choose the soft pillow and it definitely is a great choice as I fall asleep right after sleeping on it at night.
Or maybe it was my endless tour around Beijing from 8am to 9pm perhaps?
Free high speed internet in your room if you brought your own lappy / 5 computers in the lobby with internet to use. How nice?
Awesome! ^^ There is this dock for iPods too!
Me enjoying the great facility here.
I love the modern and sleek interior design of the rooms too! :D
The only thing that I think they should improve on is their morning breakfast meal.
Who wont get bored if you serve the same thing everyday? I was here 5days! Imagine that!
The breakfast lounge
Luckily the food was OK and I manage to hold on for 5 days.
Other than that, the hotel is great!
Even the architecture is superb!
PART 3: PEK-KUL Sector
Date/Day: 27 December 2009/Sunday
Flight Number: MH 379
Carrier: Malaysia Airlines
Aircraft: Airbus330-300
Aircraft Registration No: 9M-??? (Unknown)
Route: Beijing (PEK) to Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
Departure Time: 1650 hours Beijing time (GMT +8) [Delayed 40minutes]
Arrival Time: 2245 hours Kuala Lumpur time (GMT +8 ) [Delayed 5 minutes]
Journey: 6 hours
Class of Travel: Economy Class
After breakfast and few hours of shopping at a shopping complex, went to the airport for my flight back.
My last time hopping into my tour bus.
MH 379 to Kuala Lumpur.
Reached the airport a bit early and waited for the check in counters to open.
Take a picture first. :D
After checking in flight 379, passed through customs and went to the duty free shops to get some local cookies.
Stopped by Starbucks for a hot choc and a pasta salad before heading to Gate 12, my departure gate.
I love the hot choc. But not so for the salad.
Proceeded to gate 12 but my “big metal” of the day was not there yet. It was already 1540(Boarding time) at that moment.
I guessed my flight will be delayed.
So I decided to do some plane spotting around the terminal and then MH378 from KUL arrived on 1610 which is my departure time.
There she is passing through terminal 3 and a VN A321 bound for Ho Chi Minh.
Docked at Gate 12 finally.
Boarding was called at 1630 and the plane took off at 1650 after some minor problems with the clearance for take off where the plane parked at a remote stand for a few minutes.
Noticed this right after boarding. It is right above my seat, but it doesn't affect much as there is still the overhead lights for reading. MH should take note of this kind of minor problem as they have this 5 star airline status.
In-flight photography while waiting for the plane to get clearance.
As usual after take off, Earphones, Peanuts, Juices/Coffee/Tea is served.
And I had this natural mood lighting that day.
Love it!
Take 2!
Dinner was served shortly after that.
A choice of black pepper chicken with rice or beef with noodles was the menu of the day.
I choose the rice since it was dinner time.
Thumbs up! Well prepared indeed.
Ratings: 10/10 for the food and the service.
However I was not lucky this time round, cant get a second helping as there was not enough beef noodles on this flight.
Browsed through the in-flight shopping magazine [Temptations] of MAS as there was this 10% discount on everything purchased due to the New year and Christmas celebrations.
I can get 2 Enrich miles for every RM1 I spent as I'm a Enrich member!
As I browse through the mag, I noticed this special “toy” that isn’t quite expansive and it will improve my general knowledge too, therefore I bought it for just RM50+ after discount.
A “small toy” for me to try out during my free times.
Some other little souvenir by MAS:
The Mineral water was given by one of the FA's randomly, she offered me one maybe because I'm a Enrich member. HAHA
The notepad was given after I asked for it .
The supper of the day: Vegetables sandwich tasted horrid. Did not finish it.
Ratings: 3/10 for the food, 10/10 for the service.
We started descending into KLIA and landed 5 minutes off scheduled arrival time at 10:45pm (local time).
Disembarked speedily and proceeded to the Main terminal by Aerotrain for baggage reclaim.
The information board at KLIA isn’t accurate.
The board says bag arrived but no bag can be seen. The bag they meant was invincible I guess?
Wake up MAHB!
Overall I had a wonderful trip from the flight to the food and places around Beijing!
Stay Tuned for updates on the food and places I tasted and visited around Beijing. (Coming up next!)
To all flyer-talk(ers), thanks for viewing my report and I'm happy most of you enjoyed my maiden trip report. :D
Thanks for all your warm welcomes too!
